Delta One Flight Review: Lie-Flat Seats, Excellent Food

As a Delta Air Lines loyalist with Platinum Medallion status, I've flown Delta One several times. For me, the lie-flat seats are a big draw. I’m one of those people who used to hate the getting-there part of traveling — mostly because I can’t sleep sitting up. So, to make the entire flying process more enjoyable, I decided I would start using my points and miles earning capacity to fly business class over the oceans.

I recently flew Delta One from New York-John F. Kennedy (JFK) to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) and then from AMS to Tampa International Airport (TPA). The lounge access, high-end amenities and delicious food were definite highlights.

Buying a Delta One ticket

Sometimes I buy a Delta One ticket outright, and other times I use American Express Membership Rewards points or Delta SkyMiles.

When I pay outright for a ticket, I use The Platinum Card® from American Express and get 5x the points when I book my ticket directly on Delta’s website, so at least I’m earning a lot of points for a pricey ticket. Terms apply.

When using Membership Rewards points, I make sure to use The Business Platinum Card® from American Express to earn a 35% points rebate when booking a flight through American Express Travel, up to 1 million points per calendar year. Terms apply.

If using Delta SkyMiles for a ticket, I use my Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card because I get a 15% discount on miles redemptions with the TakeOff 15 benefit. Terms apply.

» Learn more: The best airline credit cards right now

Checking in for a Delta One flight

A nice thing about flying Delta One is even if you don’t have Sky Priority status, you can use the benefits when flying Delta One. That means dedicated check-in lines and often special security lanes.

Flying Delta One allows access to the Delta Sky Club, so I was able to relax a bit before my flight to JFK from TPA.

With Delta One, you can select your entree before the flight. A week before the flight, you’ll get an email with the available selections and you can choose what you want.

There were many options, including some that were available only via preorder.

You can change your selection up to 24 hours before flight time.

Delta One Lounge at JFK

During my three-hour layover at JFK, I was able to visit the Delta One Lounge for the first time; it opened in June 2024.

Access to the lounge is available with a same-day Delta One ticket.

This 39,000-square-foot oasis makes you forget you’re at an airport with great food, available spa treatments and attentive valet service.

There were plenty of places to sit and enjoy some great food and drinks. I had just enough time to have a sit-down meal in the Brasserie, and the wagyu beef and chocolate souffle were wonderful.

I wished I had scheduled a longer layover, but soon it was time to leave the lounge and head to my gate to board my flight to Amsterdam.

Boarding, cabin and seat

Boarding for the flight on the Airbus A330-900neo, a wide-body airliner, started about an hour before the scheduled takeoff time. Delta One passengers boarded in Zone 1 just after preboarding.

All 29 of the Delta One suites on the plane were full. They’re in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning there are solo seats on each aisle with two seats together in the center.

Each suite has a door that can close for privacy during the flight, but it must be kept open for takeoff and landing.

On this flight I had 4J, an even-numbered seat with the table on the aisle side. Odd-numbered seats have the table on the window side.

Each seat goes down into a 22.5-inch-wide and 79- to 80-inch-long bed, which goes down 180 degrees. There are also a variety of settings in between fully upright and flat, which makes the seat very comfortable.

Every seat has a power center with a 110-volt outlet and a USB port.

Five things were waiting for me at my seat when I boarded — a bottle of water, slippers, a bedding pack that included a duvet and a large pillow, noise-canceling headphones and an amenity kit.

Italian luxury fashion house Missoni designed Delta’s new amenity kits, which recently began replacing the old amenity kits that debuted in 2022. Those were from Mexico-based brand Someone Somewhere.

I was happy to see this change because the new kits feel much more upscale with Missoni’s signature zigzag pattern on the outside of the stiff zippered box-like bag instead of the soft fabric of the old ones.

Inside, there is a lip balm and hand cream from Grown Alchemist (a high-end skincare company), a toothbrush, an eye mask, ear plugs, socks and a pen. The short socks fit easily over the compression socks I was wearing, and my feet still fit easily into the slippers I wore when I needed to walk around.

My seat on the flight from AMS to TPA was a bit different on the A330-300. It wasn’t a suite with a door, but it still was a lie-flat bed, but a bit narrower at 19.7 inches. There was also a plug and USB port.

The amenities were the same, including a power port as well as the items waiting on the seats.

Two additional items were part of my flight home to Tampa, a wooden tulip and a Dutch pastry, since this was the inaugural flight between the two destinations.

Movies and internet

Delta has what it calls Delta Studio, which has a variety of movies, series, podcasts and playlists.

Both seats had large monitors. The one in the suite was stationary, while the one on the other plane popped out with a touch of a button and had to be stowed during takeoff and landing.

My first flight had the updated system so I could look through all the options and add items to a list, which was nice because when one movie was over, I could quickly select a new one without having to scroll through everything again. But my flight to Tampa did not allow saving titles to a list.

Delta is in the process of providing free Wi-Fi to SkyMiles members, but it isn’t available on all flights yet. It was not offered on either of my flights to or from Amsterdam, and I didn’t need full Wi-Fi and internet capabilities, so I did not pay for an upgrade.

Free messaging was available, so I was able to chat to people on the ground using WhatsApp during most of the flight.

» Learn more: The guide to Delta Wi-Fi

Service and food in Delta One

Delta One is a premium cabin, and the service and food are stellar.

Shortly after boarding, friendly flight attendants came around with champagne or juice and printed menus.

Even though I had preselected salmon as my entree, I took a menu because it showed the other items that were part of the meal and what to expect for the pre-arrival snack as well as drink options.

About 20 minutes after takeoff, flight attendants came around with warm towels and linens to set up our tables for the meal.

They followed with a drink cart and a small bowl of hot nuts. The meal service followed, and everything was tasty. I felt like I was in a nice restaurant.

I declined dessert since I had already had some sweets in the Delta One Lounge. It was a difficult decision since one of the options was an ice cream sundae.

For my flight home from AMS to TPA, I chose the short ribs as my entree, which I have found are always a good choice on Delta One flights.

One thing I find odd about meal service in Delta One is that flight attendants serve the salad, appetizer and soup all at once on a tray. Then they come to take that tray away and bring the hot entree. I don’t love this because I usually like to keep my salad just in case I don’t love the entree. I have to remember to keep my salad when they try to take everything away.

During preordering, you can select to have everything served at once, which I might try next time.

During the flight, there was a basket of snacks and bottles of water available in the galley area, so it truly was not possible to be hungry on the journey.

About an hour before landing in each direction, there was another meal — breakfast on my flight to Amsterdam and a charcuterie plate on my flight into Tampa.

Right before landing during the final safety check, flight attendants came around and thanked us for flying Delta and offered us chocolates.

Sleeping in Delta One

As a side sleeper, I sometimes find it difficult to have enough room in an airplane seat, but I was able to get comfortable on both flights and slept a few hours.

I wish Delta would expand the use of the lumbar pillow/mattress pad it offers on long-haul flights, like the ones to Asia. It makes the bed much more comfortable.

The suite has a lighting control where you can dim the lights and add feature lights. With the door closed, it gets fairly dark in the suites and is quite cozy.

The only problem I have with the configurations in Delta One is when the beds are fully flat, it is almost impossible to reach the controls for the vents above the seats to adjust and aim them.

I’d rather have that problem than have no air vents, which is the case on many European airlines.

Final thoughts on Delta One

Overall, I have been happy flying in Delta One. The service is good with several flight attendants dedicated to the cabin. They keep an eye on things, and I often find full bottles of water on the table next to me when I wake up.

The seats are comfortable in their upright and sleeping positions, and I find the privacy of the suites to be great for sleeping.

Having the ability to select an entree before a flight is nice, and it also helps me prepare for what I will eat during an entire flight day. The food is consistently good.

The best part is being able to get some sleep on overseas flights. While I don’t arrive totally refreshed and ready, I am better than I would be with no sleep and a kink in my neck from trying to sleep sitting up.